About Us

Segundo Community Thrift is a worker-owned cooperative providing living-wage transitional employment and skills training while reducing community waste through donation processing, upcycling, carpentry, and alterations services. We're located in Santa Cruz, CA, and deeply committed to serving our community.

Our Motivation

Segundo Community Thrift was born out of the founder's experience with homelessness in Santa Cruz. Witnessing the systemic barriers to employment and the shortcomings of existing aid organizations, we sought to create a sustainable solution. We aim to provide pathways to economic stability and community connection, addressing the root causes of homelessness rather than just the symptoms.

Worker-Owned Cooperative Model

Our worker-owned cooperative model means every employee has an equal ownership stake, participating in decision-making about operations and policies. This fosters accountability, creativity, and collective problem-solving, benefiting both employees and customers. Employees gain job security, democratic governance, and the dignity of owning their labor. Customers receive better service, affordable prices, and the knowledge that their purchases support local jobs and community programs. Shopping with us keeps wealth circulating within Santa Cruz.

Upcycling and Repair Services

Beyond thrifting, we offer upcycling and repair services that transform discarded items into valuable resources. Our carpentry department specializes in furniture restoration and custom builds from salvaged materials. Our alterations department provides essential clothing services like hemming, repairs, and resizing. These services reduce community waste by intercepting items before they reach landfills and extending their useful life. We create a circular economy where materials continuously cycle through repair, modification, and reuse.

Long-Term Goals

Our long-term goal is to expand into our new building on Pacific Avenue and transform Segundo Community Thrift into a vibrant community hub. We envision a space that goes beyond thrifting to become a central gathering place, offering educational classes, community events, shared workspace, and potentially services like health clinics or childcare. We want to demonstrate that the cooperative business model can be scaled, inspiring others to prioritize community benefit over profit. Our vision is to create a flexible space that evolves with our community's changing needs, breaking cycles of poverty through employment, training, and mutual aid.

Community Hub: a physical or virtual place where a community can gather, connect, and access services, information, and resources to address local needs and improve daily life. These hubs, acting as a "neighborhood's living room," can be traditional centers, libraries, schools, local shops, or even shared workspaces, offering diverse programs from health services and education to social events and shared resources. They are designed to be accessible, flexible, and responsive to the unique context of the community they serve, fostering connection and providing a central point for social interaction and support.